Court changes pre-trial restriction for Korban from house arrest to custody

2 min read

The Dniprovsky District Court of Kyiv ruled on Monday to change the pre-trial restriction measure for UKROP Party Leader Hennadiy Korban from house arrest to custody for a period of 60 days.

Korban's defense counsel Alina Samarets said they didn't known where the politician would be held in detention.

Samarets declared the ruling illegal, as Korban's new defense attorneys did not have the chance to examine the case, while the court ruling mentioned his previous attorneys, which she believes shows that the text had been written before the hearing.

"It was drawn up at least three days ago," Samarets said immediately after the ruling was handed down.

Yevheniya Kravchuk, the UKROP party's press secretary, said on Facebook: "The court has granted the Prosecutor General's Office motion on changing Hennadiy Korban's restrictive measure to taking him into custody for 60 days."

"The court ruling, in particular, indicated the names of the lawyers whose services Hennadiy Korban had declined. The lawyers are claiming that the text of the ruling had been written beforehand," Kravchuk said.

Immediately after the ruling was proclaimed, Korban himself called on his supporters to remain calm, and asked for their support while his appeal is being considered. "Let's remain calm and maintain order. I am asking you to support me at the moment when my appeal is heard. We have quite a strong position to win the appeal hearing," he said.

After making an address to the audience, Korban was escorted out of the courtroom by law enforcement officials.

Korban, a former deputy head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional administration, who recently ran in the mayoral elections in Kyiv, was detained during a sweeping special operation aimed at eradicating a criminal ring on October 31.

Korban was later notified of being suspected of 'setting up and participating in a criminal organization', 'obstructing elections commissions' activities' (implying misappropriation of a large amount of money belonging to the Country Defense Foundation charity organization),'illegally gaining possession of a transport vehicle' and 'taking hostage a government official' (implying an incident in which the chairman of the Ukrainian State Land Agency and the director of a Dnipropetrovsk city council department were taken hostage in Dnipropetrovsk). Korban was placed under house arrest until December 31.